The fourth pilot determined the location of the anti-aircraft guns from the base of the lines of tracers racing into the sky and flew over two such positions. He released cluster-munitions over both targets. The cloud of sparks and shrapnel ripped through the exposed gunners and their equipment, abruptly silencing the stream of tracer fire from both locations.
By now the first two Jaguars were on their second approach into the sector with empty pylons but with full gun ammo. Licks of flame erupted through five more trucks as the large cannon shells punched through their cargo and engine compartments. At this range, the cannon rounds punched large holes even on the dirt and gravel of the road and sent dust clouds rising around the five burning trucks…
Two whitish smoke trails left the ground behind the banking Jaguars and followed into the streams of flares and chaff released by both aircraft. The Chinese had recovered and were now engaging the Indian aircraft with more dangerous weaponry than unguided anti-air gunfire. The shoulder-launched anti-air missiles could be deadly.
The surprise element was now no more.
So it was time to leave. There was no second pass for the last two Jaguars and the entire formation of four left Tibetan airspace west of Demchok.
On the ground east of the Jara pass, they left behind dozens of smoke pillars reaching into the night sky as fires raged on the supply road. The message sent out by the PLA General commanding the Division in that sector to the PLAAF headquarters in Kashgar was not pleasant in its tone or content.
But it did trigger a different kind of response.
Feng abruptly stood up from his chair when he finished reading the message. Chen looked up in surprise.
“What happened?” Chen asked.
“Indian aircraft have destroyed a PLA convoy in southern Ladakh and escaped without loss!”
“Without loss?! Who’s the fool in charge of air-defense in southern Ladakh?” Chen growled angrily as Feng handed the message to him.
“He says he shot down three of the Indian bombers, but I will believe it when I see the wreckage. The PLA Division commander there has been saying entirely the opposite and blaming us for not protecting his troops with adequate air cover. He says his losses are severe. Hundreds dead and wounded. Several dozen vehicles destroyed,” Feng replied.
“That fool in charge of that sector will answer for this! I will have him shot! Have him arrested and replaced with someone more competent from your own staff. We cannot afford these kinds of attacks on our logistical arteries, Feng!” Chen said as he glanced through the report.
But Feng was putting a different picture together in his head…
“Sir, there’s another issue here. We don’t know how many of the Jaguars were involved in the attack,” Feng said. Chen looked up from the paper in his hands.
“And how is that possible?”
“Confusion and chaos during the attack. Plus it’s nighttime. The soldiers on the ground running for their lives did not sit around gathering an accurate estimate. One eyewitness says four, another says six and other says a dozen. We are left to take our pick!” Feng said as he pulled the map on the table to his corner just as Chen walked over to his side.
“So? Does that matter? Surely the entire Indian force must have been involved in the attack?” Chen asked.
“Maybe. Maybe not. We had a report earlier that an entire squadron worth of Indian Jaguars was detected entering Tibetan airspace minutes before the attack on the convoy. The numbers that attacked the convoy at Jara were not the total force even if we could the exaggerated count!” Feng replied. “And we know already that Indian electronic-warfare aircraft are attempting to jam our radars in the Aksai Chin!”
“A diversionary attack!” Chen noted.
“The Indians are going after our S-300 defenses!” Feng said and urgently walked over to the nearby phone and pressed the speaker.
“This is Senior-Colonel Feng! Scramble all fighters immediately and get all those already in the air to the Aksai Chin! Tell them to look out for low-altitude Indian strike aircraft approaching the sector from the southeast. And sound the alarm on all ground defenses! We are under attack!”
Parekh looked through the HUD as they crossed another ridgeline and dived down to low altitudes beyond it. His eleven other pilots did the same. The Jaguar was somewhat sluggish at the controls given the heavy load of weapons and the low density air at such altitudes. The return trip would be much smoother, Parekh admitted to himself.
If we make it back, that is!
“Firefly-One, this is Eagle-Eye-One. Proceed to primary. Out!”
He smiled as he processed the meaning behind that piece of news: his four pilots had struck the convoy and made it back safely. He switched radio frequencies:
“Firefly-One to all Firefly elements. Proceed to primary. Look sharp boys! Here we go!”
He pushed the throttle-control all the way forward until it clicked into reheat. As their leader accelerated ahead into the night sky, the other Tuskers pilots punched in their own afterburners and followed him in.
The sixteen Su-30s were now in a line abreast formation parallel to the orientation of the Aksai Chin S-300 defensive belt. They were going to try something a second time now. The last such attempt the day before had given mixed results. This one would prove more decisive.
Hopefully.
On cue from Verma on board the Phalcon, the Su-30 pilots punched off the Brahmos missile they carried on their centerline pylons. The missiles fell off cleanly into the cold night sky. Three tons of steel and explosive now accelerated as the ramjet engines thundered to life. The missile accelerated beyond the launch aircraft, losing altitude until it was barely above the ridges near the Galwan River in central Ladakh and then kept heading east beyond. All sixteen missiles entered Chinese airspace streaking towards the deployed Big-Bird radars…
The Indian Su-30 pilots executed a pitch-out maneuver and raced back to the west. The Phalcon operations crew noted on their screens the clean release of all sixteen missiles that had now gone supersonic…
The ground shook as the first 48N6E2 missile punched out of its vertical launch canister and raced into the night sky atop a pillar of smoke and flame, quickly arcing west. PLA soldiers on the ground strained their necks to see the fast moving missile as it disappeared within the stars above. That first launch was followed by another from a second battery further north. Then the first battery emptied another canister followed by second launch from the second battery.
And then a third missile raced for the sky.
The Chinese S-300 battery commanders were ripple-launching their long-range air-defense missiles…
They were prepared for what was coming. A game of numbers. Sixteen Indian missiles were streaking in at three times the speed of sound. Four of the seven S-300 batteries in the Aksai Chin were engaging these incoming targets. In under a minute the missile canisters became empty and the launch smoke dissipated away into the cold winds of the Aksai Chin.
Now both sides waited and watched as the radar intercepts merged.
The leading Brahmos missile shattered to pieces as it was hit by two of the intercepting Chinese missiles. With a much larger number of intercepting missiles, the Chinese battery commanders weren’t taking any chances.